Channeling
by Wayya
Summary: Gen, oneshot. An old fic in which I was trying to do something more realistic and plausible with the “fusion characters” trend. It might be weird and creepy, but I hope you will like it!


Notes: this is my own take on "fusion characters". I wanted to make something that would fit in the game and make sense, even in canon. Two characters merging in one would be creepy, isn't it?

* * *

Roxas bent down to catch his breath. Things kept becoming weirder and weirder.

First there had been the dreams. But as long as long as they had stayed in his head, it had been okay. No, the problems had started when dreams and reality had began to blend, and Roxas felt like he had less and less control over the situation. The white guys, the Keyblade, Naminé… But all the weird stuff of yesterday had won the cake; he still couldn't understand what had happened during the struggle tournament, with Vivi and the two strangers. And Kairi's voice, whoever she may be, was still echoing in his head.

So today, when his friend had suggested to investigate on the 'Seven Wonders' of Twilight Town for their homework, he had briefly wondered if he wasn't under a curse that would compel him to stand every oddity this town – and his life – could contain. Being apparently the only one to face supernatural events didn't help either. Maybe he was really going crazy, after all.

He had just got rid of one of these singularities; his reflection had emerged from a waterfall and attacked him. The battle had been pretty rough, until the black shadow disappeared in a blur of numbers and symbols, like the other singularities. As well as the Keyblade. He stared at his empty hand, as if it could give him the answers he was looking for… Wait a minute. Since when were his fingers so thin and pale? His wrist was shrinking right before his eyes…

Whatever was going on, it was evolving fast. His body was… was changing. He could feel his members stretching, like some kind of accelerated growth. He could hear his bone cracking while stretching, unless it was his imagination, as his ears were filled with the pumping sound of his panicked heart and the roaring blood.

He made a few unsteady steps – his moving size didn't help his balance – to lean on the brink of the waterfall. It may have been a wrong idea, since he had now a full view of his face, and it wasn't better than his body. He was definitely paler – though it was not so surprising considering the circumstances -, his chin and his cheeks had fined down so he could barely recognize himself. On top of that, one his eyes turned green while he was staring at his reflection.

"Okay now listen to me, Roxas," he said. Except that he didn't even had thought these words.

"What?" So that was like that, when you were crazy enough to talk to yourself. Great…

Another voice stopped his train of thoughts. "…Boy? A-Are you alright?"

He turned his head to face an old lady a few step away, who was looking at him worriedly. Surely he must look suspicious staring at his reflection talking alone. He knew the woman; she was a close friend of the Twilight Town candy shop owner and he often exchanged a few words with her when he came to the shop and met her. He wondered if it was really her and she couldn't recognize him, or if he was imagining her too. She was staring at his mismatch eyes and he couldn't frankly blame her. He cracked a weak smile to reassure her and said: "It's me, Roxas."

But at the same time, his mouth said "It's me, Axel, so shut the fuck up and do what I say, and I may not hurt you," so all the woman could hear was something that looked like "It's me, Roxel" and threats. She promptly turned away, eyes wide, and started running.

"Shit!" his mouth shouted, and Roxas' right arm raised, a ball of flames in the hand. He acted instinctively and used his other hand to plunge his arm in the water of the waterfall to kill the fire before he got burned. His reflection taught him that his hair was sprouting in some huge red spikes at the back and the sides of his head and little black triangle-shaped tattoos had appeared under his eyes. Same as the Axel guy from yesterday… Well, that made another reason why the woman had been scared off. His mouth – Axel – was yelling angrily. "Are you stupid? I manage to sneak beyond the program's defenses and you fuck up everything? If she makes too much ruckus, the bastard will know there's something and will kick me out!"

"A-Axel?" Roxas tried. "But how…"

"Later. We must leave now, before he finds me."

His legs made a few steps. The more he became Axel, the less he had control over his body. Roxas tried to resist to the other man and he felt heavily on the floor. How could he fight off an enemy that was taking over his own body?

Suddenly the strange man from yesterday appeared near them. "So you dared come again, Axel?"

Axel swore again and got to his – Roxas' – feet. There was a hint of fear in his voice, and fear gave him more power over their shared body. No matter how hard he tried, Roxas could hardly control anything. Now even his clothes were meddling with Axel's coat, in some illogical and gruesome way. With a detachment that only comes when your brain is overwhelmed by panic and throw in the towel, Roxas thought that the leather strips on his arms gave him some weird gothic look. It was hard for him to get a grip and focus on the events at hand.

The man stood very still and was trying to reason with Axel. "You won't be able to get him that way. You should run away while you still can, Axel."

"Make me," he replied. "You can't catch me without hurting your precious little Roxas as long I as stay here. You won't do anything, old bastard."

But the man started to laugh, a deep and confident laugh that unhinged Axel. "You really don't understand, do you? I have a complete control over everything here. All it takes me to get rid of viruses like you is to reboot the simulation."

Roxas didn't had the time to ponder what he had just heard. His mouth let out one last "Oh _fuck_" before everything went black around him and he dived into nothingness.

¤¤¤

"Roxas!"

The voice of Pence awoke him from unconsciousness and Roxas tried to get up.

"You all right?" Pence asked.

He was still near the waterfall and apparently the two men were nowhere to be seen. Axel… Roxas turned to the water to check his reflection. Everything was normal again and Roxas felt greatly relieved for that; he wouldn't have wanted his friend to see him under that freaky appearance.

Pence noticed that Roxas was staring at the waterfall and looked there as well. "Now that's spooky! I thought I saw someone, but it was just my reflection. I bet this is behind one of the seven wonders!"

"Y-yeah…" Roxas answered, still puzzled from all that had happened.

"Come on! We still have other wonders to find!"

"Hey, Pence… Was any of the seven wonders related to some kind of... possession story?"

"You mean, like in ghost stories?" Pence scratched his head. "No… Never heard of something like that. Why do you ask?"

"N-Nothing. Forget it."

He quickly followed Pence to Sunset Hill. All he wanted was to put as much distance as possible between the waterfall and him. And understand what was really going on.


End file.
